NEW DELHI, Jan 30: A couple of inter-faith marriage have been re-united and headed for a new city to restart their life together after the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the constitutional rights of two adult individuals to live together either through marriage or in live-in relationship.
Justice Nandita Dubey made the observation while hearing a habeas corpus petition moved by Gulzar Khan (27) for his wife Arti Sahu (19). The petitioner, a resident of Gorakhpur in Jabalpur, stated that he had married Sahu at a family court in Bandra, Mumbai, on December 28, a day after the two eloped from their houses in Jabalpur.
Sahu is also said to have converted to Islam. The couple were reportedly residing in Mumbai since their marriage and were headed to Bandra on January 15 to collect a copy of their marriage certificate, when a police team from Jabalpur detained them in respect to a kidnapping case registered by Sahu’s family and brought them back to Jabalpur.
In his petition, Khan stated that Sahu’s parents had forcefully taken her to Banaras and illegally detained her there. He said “Soon after we got married, we sent three letters by speed post, intimating not only our respective families but also the police station concerned. But even then, we were brought to Jabalpur and also beaten up overnight. It was only the next morning that they handed over Arti to her family, while I was allowed to go but all my documents were taken away.”
Khan in his petition alleged that Sahu has been locked up in a room in Banaras and she was being forced to give statements against him. “I did not know how to get my wife back, which is why I started looking for solutions on YouTube and learnt about the habeas corpus petition. I could have also written to the SP, but after the way we were arrested and treated by policemen, I have lost faith in them,” said Khan, who works as a mechanic in Jabalpur. Both Khan and Sahu lived in the same locality in Jabalpur and were reportedly in a relationship for the past four years.
After Khan moved the petition on January 18, Sahu was produced before the court, where she testified that she had willingly married Khan and converted to Islam.
But their marriage was opposed by the prosecutor who cited Section 3 of the MP Freedom to Religion Act, 2021, which stipulates no person shall convert for the purpose of marriage and any conversion in contravention of the provision shall be deemed null and void. The prosecutor demanded that the woman be sent to Nari Niketan.
Justice Dubey said, “Be that as it may, the petitioner and corpus both are major. No moral policing can be allowed in such matters where the two major persons are willing to stay together whether by way of marriage or in a live-in relationship, when the party to that arrangement is doing it willingly and not forced into it.”
Justice Dubey while rejecting the argument of the prosecutor to send Arti to Nari Niketan ordered, “The corpus before this Court has clearly stated that she had married the petitioner and wants to stay with him. The corpus is a major person. Her age is not disputed by any of the parties. The Constitution gives a right to every major citizen of this country to live her or his life as per her or his own wishes.”
The court also directed the public prosecutor and the police authorities to ensure that Khan and Sahu reach their house safely. The police were also directed to make sure that the couple are not threatened by Sahu’s parents in future.
(Manas Dasgupta)
